Annihilation [4K Ultra HD Blu-ray/Blu-ray] [2018]

This movie was amazing. Natalie Portman is awesome in everything, and that’s a given. But, this movie taps into a beautiful fantasy world you wish you were in, while at the same time making you feel horribly on edge the entire movie. The end was a little weird but all in all it made sense for the movie. I am actually kinda hoping for a second movie!

I liked this Movie very much because it’s Different from all the Movies I watched this Year

An interesting concept; Stunning visuals ; I want to live there ;

Annihilation is an incredible Sci-fi movie & is my favorite film of 2018!

Upon it's initial home release, Annihilation appeared to only be released on 4K exclusively at Best Buy and while that might have changed since, I was grateful to see such a visually spectacular film receive the release it deserved. While some of the stylistic choices don't result in the kind of visuals one might expect to benefit greatly from the format, it's still worth watching the film with the highest fidelity possible. The movie is certainly not for everyone, but for those who enjoy hard science fiction and films that beg for repeat viewings to fully understand, this is something special. While you could certainly comprehend enough on an initial viewing to appreciate the experience, revisiting it helps to open up a lot of mysteries and provides an increasingly deeper experience overall. Writer/director Alex Garland is a singular talent and he balances a number of genre elements to create a film that is awe-inspiring, terrifying, and rather cerebral often all at the same moment. In many ways, this is the ideal type of film to have in a personal collection because of the value it provides with each viewing. You may want to check the film out before deciding it's worth the purchase given how divisive the responses have been, but there's no doubt this is the format to purchase if you decide you want a copy to own.

Alex Garland's directorial screen debut in 2014, “Ex Machina”, heralded a truly imaginative filmmaker of mature, intelligent science fiction, and brought him a well-deserved Oscar for its original screenplay. Now he’s followed it up with "Annihilation", a screenplay he considered to be ‘a memory’ of the book by Jeff VanderMeer rather than a straight adaptation in order to create a dream-like atmosphere, and he succeeded splendidly. Seemingly inspired by Andrei Tarkovsky’s essential 1979 Russian masterpiece, "Stalker" (mixed with some H.P. Lovecraft and "2001: A Space Odyssey" elements), the film tells of a group of women military scientists led by Natalie Portman and Jennifer Jason Leigh who journey into a mysterious quarantined ‘zone’ of strange animals and mutating landscapes in search of a lost Special Forces soldier who had vanished. After shooting test footage in St. Marks, Florida, it was decided to film at a national nature reserve in Norfolk, England due to its vegetation. Paramount pictures considered the film to be too intellectual and too complicated, so they put pressure on Garland to change the film, but the director refused. Thank god: it’s depth and ambiguity help make this a treat for the thinking filmgoer, sometimes eluding clear interpretation and stretching in its climax towards some spiritual resolutions. This was perhaps why it wasn’t successful at the box office. If you want an easy film that does not require you to use your brain pan, this is not your film. I loved it, although many will be befuddled and walk out scratching their heads. With amazing visuals that evoke a believable alien landscape as a setting for its exploration of challenging themes, “Annihilation" is a science fiction gem that even transcends the genre. Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers called it “a bracing brainteaser with the courage of its own ambiguity”, and it was one of President Barack Obama’s favorite films of 2018. You should check it out but don’t leave your brain behind when you do.

Alex Garland is one of the most exciting science fiction filmmakers working today. Look at his resume, he wrote 28 DAYS LATER, SUNSHINE, SUNSHINE, and DREDD. He made the jump to writer/director with the smart and chilling EX MACHINA. His latest effort pulling double duty, ANNIHILATION, is an ultimately humanistic look at the alien first contact and alien invasion genres. With top-notch performances, effects, and music, it’s a must see for fans of brainy sci fi. Natalie Portman plays a damaged and lonely biology professor who’s also ex military. Her husband, played by Oscar Isaac in what amounts to an extended cameo, is a covert ops soldier that’s been missing in action for a year. When he appears back at their house out of the blue, it sets in motion a chain of events that will show us what happened to him and allow us insight into their relationship. See, a meteor crashed into a remote barren swamp, creating some sort of weird expanding field around the site from which no one has returned except him. To go into any more detail than that would be to ruin some of the pleasures the film has to offer. Based on the first novel of Jeff VanderMeer’s SOUTHERN REACH TRILOGY, the mystery of what’s going on within “the Shimmer” is one of the key elements that helps give momentum to the somewhat languid pacing. Additionally, the surprising musical choices and flashbacks break the creeping tension of the events occurring within the bizarre landscape while providing humanity to the otherworldly tone. Jennifer Jason Leigh and Tessa Thompson deliver strong supporting performances as members of the exploratory team. The special effects, ranging from subtle to exuberant, are excellent. Sound design, something that many audiences take for granted, is outstanding. At times flirting with body horror, the picture delivers some shocking imagery in spots. Do you like smart sci fi? If so, don’t read anything about ANNIHILATION, just see it. The most immediate comparisons I can think of would be Denis Villeneuve’s ARRIVAL and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A SPACE ODDYSSEY in terms of tone and approach. Fair warning, the ending is very much open to interpretation. This isn’t a story that’s spoon fed to you. Though highly humanistic, it’s also very symbolic and introspective. Additionally, my favorite comic book writer Alan Moore is name checked in the special features. Keep an eye out and see if you can spot his influence on the picture. I watched this on 4K UHD and it looked and sounded excellent. I will continue to watch anything Alex Garland makes, as he is becoming a master of uncompromising and intellectual science fiction.

Really impressive movie. Captures a sense of otherworldly, existential terror unlike most anything else. Beautifully filmed, but also so thoroughly strange that I'm certain there's things about this movie I haven't gotten yet. Definitely deserves a few re-watches.